Have you noticed that most people who seek spirituality, to attain permanent bliss, are the ones who are dissatisfied with their career? The pursuit of spiritual happiness is no different from that of materialism. The end goal of both pursuits is to attain a state of joy and inner peace. It’s been said that mind causes our suffering. Is it possible for humans to be free of their minds? Well, enlightenment points to exactly such a state. In truth, the only time we ever achieve no-mind is while sleeping or after death. There is one more condition in which we exist in a no-mind state – when we are completely engrossed in what we are doing oblivious to time. Seeking a state of no-mind is akin to pursuing happiness. No-mind is just a metaphor for the state of bliss that is attained when incessant suffering caused by negative mind activity comes to an end. The state of no-mind is that of pure happiness. Wouldn’t all of us love to attain that state?
A good ten years of my life were spent chasing inner peace or enlightenment. I constantly felt a deep sense of meaninglessness in my life. In my quest for enlightenment, I read several books on spirituality and watched many videos by spiritual gurus – in fact the only thing I did not do was end up in an ashram or a retreat. I experienced a lot of peace while listening to these gurus. Their inner peace radiated from their being and touched everyone in their presence. We have the capacity to sense peace, just as we can sense anger, in another person. The people who visit spiritual gurus are mostly addicted to this experience of peace. Unfortunately it is pseudo-peace they experience, because this peace is not emanated from within but from an external source. In fact we can feel the same peace while listening to a bird singing or watching a sunset. In essence there are two ways that you can experience peace – from inside and from outside. Most of us go through our lives seeking peace that emanates from “the outside” because we lack an understanding of how to realize our inner peace.
Have you noticed that each one of us seems to have a way of expressing ourselves creatively? I’ve not met one person who does not possess something creative inside him/her. A few means of expressing creatively are – talking, singing, writing, painting and creating music. Let’s take the example of talking as a means of creative expression. Have you ever heard Eckhart Tolle or Adyashanti talk? There is a power in their speech and it’s peaceful to hear them. They are also people who are completely at peace with themselves. So what is the rationale behind their peace or inner calm? Have they become Buddhas? What does it mean to be a Buddha? Most of us are aware of the symptoms of enlightenment but few of us are aware of the cause. If I were to ask you – What causes enlightenment? You will most probably talk vaguely about entering a state of no-thought and no-self. As far as the definition of enlightenment goes it’s just about feeling at one with everything around us and existing in a state of pure awareness. It’s not a state to be achieved but a state to be lived in. Buddha mentioned that mind is the cause of suffering. Tolle points to this state as pure awareness. Adyashanti talks about the emptiness within. Can we mere mortals achieve this state at all?
Let’s look at it a little logically instead of accepting all these claims on blind faith. The only way to know you are enlightened is to experience enlightenment. Without the actual experience everything is just theory or concept, a mass of words. The only way we can experience anything is through thoughts, feelings and sense perceptions. If enlightenment is the absence of thoughts or detachment from thoughts then we must experience enlightenment through our feelings. Our most natural state is that of pure awareness and that is what enlightenment points to. Have you ever, at any point of your life, experienced this state of pure awareness or emptiness? I think you have. Remember the time when you were so immersed in a novel or so deeply involved in a project of your liking that you forgot the world existed? What did it feel like? I am sure you were so engrossed in what you were doing that you lost track of time, the past and the future stopped to exist, there was a complete detachment from the body and mind; you existed as pure awareness itself – the state of enlightenment.
So there you have it? Next time someone asks you if you have experienced enlightenment you can tell them you have. You don’t need to go to a spiritual teacher for this. For most spiritual gurus this is more or less a business; but there are definitely a few teachers who are actually following their true calling. In my own experience it’s easy to find out the fake gurus – just listen to them and see if you can feel peace within, you won’t. On the other end of the spectrum, teachers like Eckhart Tolle and Adyashanti are just following their inner calling – this was their life’s purpose. They creatively express their teachings in words that are soothing to the soul. They are adding tremendous value to people’s lives. It is not even important that you agree to what they are saying; their words convey a sense of peace by themselves. They receive due value back, but they are not in this business for money. It’s just that they are following the path of heart. Are they truly enlightened – Yes, its hard not to be enlightened when you are following your heart.
Have you got the secret to enlightenment yet? These gurus are not kidding you when they say that enlightenment is a state were there is no mind, a state where you stop existing as a body mind entity, a state of pure awareness. Unfortunately people are out there trying to achieve enlightenment using the outside-in approach. They are trying to simulate a state of no-mind through practices like meditation and Jappa. There is nothing wrong with these practices at all but they can only provide temporary peace – may be you experience bliss for a few moments when you become intensely immersed in your practice but you lose it the moment you open your eyes. You really don’t need to do so much meditation – in my dictionary the best meditation is a peaceful sleep, no meditation experience can get better than that for sure. Stop deluding yourself that you can achieve enlightenment by practicing discipline, that’s nonsense. If you hold your breath and go deep inside your body, you will get nothing but pain. Most spiritual teachers who are at peace with themselves have no clue why they feel that way and so they fail to convey the cause to their audience – the reason why there at peace is because they one with their life’s purpose.
Let me ask you a simple question, if you take a spiritual guru, who is completely at peace, and put him in a software development firm, ask him to learn programming, give him project work and deadlines and hold one-on-one meetings with him every few minutes to discuss his progress – would he feel at peace? No way. He’ll find the environment too hostile for peace and would be petrified at the prospect of spending his life coding and fixing software bugs. Most spiritual gurus specify that enlightenment has less to do with “doing” and more to do with “being”; I would like to modify this statement a bit, the way I experience it – Enlightenment is all about being one with what you are doing. This becomes even more important when we consider the fact that most of our adult life is spent “doing” our work. That’s why we can be looking for enlightenment outside our work. We all have an inherent need to create and we can’t be at peace unless we are creating from the heart.
When you follow your heart, you will have inner joy as a constant companion. If you don’t agree I will prove you wrong with just one example from your own life – Tell me the one time you lost track of time and got detached from your body-mind identity – wasn’t it when you were immersed in doing something you loved? You always had the secret of enlightenment right there. You have been pounding on a door which was never locked in the first place. Enlightenment happens when you are totally immersed in creatively expressing yourself. It could be anything even wild dancing, as long as your heart is immersed in it. Stephen King, the famous author, said that he felt a natural calm and peace while writing. Writing becomes the medium through which Stephen King experiences enlightenment. He is at peace with himself when he is writing because that is his calling. So what about when he is not writing? Well the peace that flows through you when you are in alignment with your purpose rides you through most other aspects of daily living – in fact everything else becomes secondary.
Why are so many people pursuing enlightenment these days? The answer is simple – they are out of touch with their inner calling. They don’t know what they have to do and so they keep themselves busy pursuing “something” called enlightenment which promises bliss. They want to achieve a state of no mind to escape the voice of their heart. Instead of just listening to the heart they want to shut down their mind. Lot of people on drugs would tell you they feel bliss; in fact there are several so called “wise men” in India who take drugs to feel spiritual. Drugs help you reach a state of semi-consciousness, where the voice of your heart becomes quiet or numb – and they mistake it for inner bliss. Today we have found several means of trampling our inner voice like – watching TV, drinking and eating junk food. Don’t shut your heart down; it’s your only guide to bliss and happiness. Creative expression will take you along the path of joy, but it has to be something that your heart wants not what your conditioned mind has been programmed to want (metaphorically speaking).
How do I find my calling? Ok here is a small tip – find out what you enjoyed doing as a kid and you might get a clue towards what your true calling is. Did you enjoy doing math as a kid? No? Then why are stuck in a bank doing finances? That’s self torture. You will never experience inner joy even if you visit a thousand gurus unless you first quit your job as a banker and find something you love doing. Forget what the so called career gurus talk about – work should be fun. More than 60% of your adult life would be spent working, do you really want to be stuck doing something you don’t love, something you don’t enjoy or feel passionate about?
Ignore the sadistic practical minded career-oriented people who ask you to chase money. They are living a miserable life themselves and they want you to suffer along with them. Most of them scoff at the words “creative expression”. Career according to them is a long path of boredom and monotony where you fulfill your responsibilities as a mature adult. That’s just pure nonsense. The best way you can ever contribute to people around you is through creative self expression. Find out what you would love doing and try to pursue it without fear – expertise will come with time. I have known people who make a fortune selling T-shirts – you know how? They put their creativity into it; they come up with really funny or thought provoking one-liners to paste on the T-shirts. They add value to people’s lives by entertaining them. No work is small or big, it’s just what you make of it. The one true way of living happily is to follow your heart – nothing else will ever bring you a semblance of joy, money won’t, relationships won’t, pursuit of spirituality won’t.
All that’s fine Senthil but I really don’t know how to listen to my heart, I don’t know what its saying. Let me answer you bluntly – you are just afraid of listening to what your heart is saying. Most of us have gone so far down the wrong road that a U-turn and a long ride back is inevitable – but I assure you the ride back is worth it. You just need to be present listening to your heart’s voice instead of switching on the TV or popping a can of beer? When was the last time you truly sensed your inner feelings? Stay “in the now” at least for a few minutes and you will get a glimpse of the suffering within you. Live with it longer and it will start speaking for itself. It takes a few weeks to get good at it; initially when you try to stay present your mind will immediately take over and give you a thousand reasons “why you cannot stay in the present for a few seconds”. Ignore the mind and just stay present. You don’t have to think about solutions – you will be guided by your higher intelligence. How do I know this works? It worked for me. I shifted close to 5 careers before finding out that all I wanted to do was write and give value to people through my writing. I may not be an expert at writing right now, and I might have to work on several drafts before getting a post right, but I will get better with time. Few months down the line I would be a much better writer than what I am today, but that is not important. The important thing is that I am following my heart. I don’t worry about critics – they are doing what they love, so let them. You just carry on doing what you feel passionate about and everything else will fall in place with time.
I have been chasing enlightenment like mad for most past of the past 2 years, I’ve had all the over-the-mountain experiences as well as the experience of non-duality, I totally agree with the spiritual teachers when they say that we are pure awareness. That’s what we are and we are creative. Awareness always wants to create – It created a very beautiful universe to start with, I think that’s a small clue towards our own urge for creative self expression. We are nothing but pure awareness and so we feel the happiest when we are creating beautifully. Follow your heart because it is the compass which will point your mind in the right direction. Once you find your true calling or true passion, you will never seek enlightenment again – joy will be a part of who you are.
